Flower video game review

The new PlayStation Network exclusive download uses floating petals and a
mesmerising musical score to send players on an emotional journey
.

In a dark, damp city apartment, a single golden flower stands wilted in a pot by the window. On the other side of the glass, tall, black tower blocks blot the skyline, while the incessant whirr of an extractor fan is the only sound breaking through the silence.

The flower, like many of us, has a dream. A dream to leave the monotony of daily life and fly high beyond the city, over the stream of passing cars, their lights blurring into one mess of yellow and red; out to lush green fields and the open air.

This poetic, romantic ideal is not the result of an interpretation of a beautiful oil painting or some deeper meaning behind verse or song, but the opening of a video game.

Available as a download for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) from Sony’s online download portal PlayStation Network (PSN), Flower is the brainchild of US developers thatgamecompany. Co-founder’s Jenova Chen and Kelee Santiago formed the studio straight from university and, after showing a prototype game to Sony’s John Hight, netted themselves a three-game deal with the Japanese giant. Flower is the second game in that deal. Their first, flOw, was a flagship title for PSN.

Flower is, according to Gavin Russell, Sony Europe’s producer for the PSN, an example of what they call “Zen-gaming”.

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“It’s not quite a game, it’s more of an experience,” says Russell. “flOw, Cloud [thatgamecompany’s first game, available as a free download on PC] and Flower meet our specifications for what we’d call a 'Zen-game’. We like to call it a game where you have a water-cooler moment, where you will sit down and speak to someone about playing this strange new thing.”

The concept of Flower is simple, but one that can run the gamut of emotions for the player. You begin each stage of Flower as an unblossomed flower standing in a field. A press of any button on the controller brings a gust of wind, with the flower opening to the sun and shedding a solitary petal. From there, you must take the petal on its journey by conducting the wind. Pressing more firmly on the button brings a stronger gust, while tilting the PS3’s motion-sensitive controller dictates direction. It’s an effortlessly intuitive control scheme. From there, you are left to your own devices. “We don’t want you to think too much about what you’re doing; we want it to be a natural progression,” says Russell.

It’s this sense of discovery that makes Flower such a compelling experience. It looks utterly beautiful; the delicate animation of the petal is wonderfully convincing, whether it is gently fluttering in the wind, or sent flying topsy-turvy by a stronger gust. The aim of the game is to spread life across the landscape as more unblossomed flowers stretch out across the rolling hills. Using the wind, you must guide your petal into these flowers, which bloom at your touch, expelling another single petal which then joins you in a conga line of colour. Before long, many petals spiral behind you, life breeding life as you restore browned grass to lush green and bring leaves back to bare trees.

It’s not all about just painting a picture, either. Flower’s original score is wonderfully evocative, beginning quietly before building to a restrained crescendo. And, as is Flower’s way, you are as much the composer as the painter. Each different type of flower you touch strikes a different note, adding extra layers to a soundtrack that grows as you gather more petals into your stream.

As a video game, and as an audio-visual experience, Flower is completely unique, something that Chen says is exactly thatgamecompany’s ethos. “When we pitched the Flower concept, we knew we were going out to push the boundary of what video games can communicate,” he says. “And our compass is to bring fresh and new emotional experiences rarely found in the mainstream market. To help that process, we designed our game to be very intuitive to gamers and non-gamers alike.”

Indeed, Flower should be experienced by anyone and everyone, but with a video game that approaches abstraction and interpretive themes, is there a danger of alienating some players? “We won’t be surprised if gamers say they don’t get it, if they haven’t played the game,” says Chen. “But once they play the game, I think the story will be different.”

Russell agrees and believes that Flower can touch everyone in some way. “You walk away with your own interpretation and the way you feel after you’ve played it and the way another person feels may be entirely different. But the uniqueness of this game is that you will feel something. You may feel complete apathy. But I think there will be very few people who come away feeling like that.”

Flower is likely to reignite the “video games as art” debate. Chen believes such discussions should focus on what the work communicates, rather than what medium it is presented in. “I think many people will relate abstract themes and crafted beauty as artistic. I don’t necessarily agree,” he says. “To me, art is about the communication of a consciousness from the artwork to its audience. We tried really hard to keep our game focused with one voice. Thus it is more likely to be heard by the player. If we failed at communicating the desired emotional experience to the player, then it is not art, in my opinion.”

Chen needn’t worry. Flower is a remarkable and exquisitely crafted piece of work that transcends the medium effortlessly. It’s a wonderful journey of emotion and exploration that should even speak to people who have never picked up a video game controller before. Flower makes your heart soar as you whip the controller up, sending your petal stream high above the landscape in a tornado of beautiful colours and roaring wind or surfing close to the ground, watching the blades of grass part and sway as you bring life back to the world around you.

'Flower’ is available to download now from the PlayStation Network, priced at £6.29.